(2) The Truth Comes to Light

"Tianyin Pavilion?" Guo Huilian gasped in astonishment, clapping a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide as she stared at the other four. So this was the greatest secret Tian Xu had carried all along—his father, Cheng Siyuan, had been none other than the second head of Tianyin Pavilion.

When the old Pavilion Master had been killed, Cheng Siyuan, holding the exalted rank of "Upper Envoy," had succeeded him as head of the pavilion, and Tian Xu, following in his father's footsteps, was now Tianyin Pavilion's current head. With two successive Pavilion Masters meeting with disaster within the span of just a few years, Aunt Xi, determined to secure her son's safety and to secure the Tian clan of Weibo's protection for him, had arranged for him to be placed under their wing. Her cousin had thrown himself wholeheartedly into hunting down Tianyin Pavilion, treating it as the prime suspect in his investigation—never imagining that the flood, as the saying goes, had washed straight up against the Dragon King's own temple. And clearly, someone had set a trap, deliberately trying to pin the blame on Tianyin Pavilion—when had Tianyin Pavilion ever actually committed these crimes at all? So then, who was this scheming mastermind lurking behind it all, and why did they have it out for Tianyin Pavilion? And besides, all that existed now was Yueyue Manor, not Tianyin Pavilion at all; there was only a Manor Lord now, not a Pavilion Master—Tianyin Pavilion was no longer the Tianyin Pavilion of old. Through Aunt Xi's tireless efforts, it had long since transformed entirely, becoming a thoroughly legitimate house of commerce...

"Little Ye was afraid of forgetting what Father and my eldest martial brother looked like, so for twenty years he kept secretly sketching their portraits from memory—terrified of being discovered by the enemy, he'd burn a portion of them whenever they piled up too high..."

Yu Shurong's eyes brimmed with tears as he spoke, and he went on, "My eldest martial brother was endlessly kind to Little Ye. Father was already advancing in years, and in failing health, so he entrusted Little Ye to my eldest martial brother's care. My eldest martial brother was the warmest, most generous man in all the world—though he himself had never been a father before, he took to the role with complete devotion. Even while buried under the crushing weight of his own responsibilities, having to manage the whole of Tianyin Pavilion's affairs in Father's stead, he never once forgot to look after Little Ye. Though I've forgotten most of what happened back then, the kindness my eldest martial brother showed Little Ye is something I will never, ever forget."

Yu Shurong pointed at Tian Xu once more and continued, "He looks exactly like my eldest martial brother—identical in every way. At first I couldn't quite convince myself of it, but the more I studied those portraits, the more the memories of those years came flooding back to me, one after another. That's it! Given his age, he must be my eldest martial brother's son—but then why does he bear the surname Tian? That's why I had to come here and get to the bottom of it."

Hearing this, Tian Xu stepped forward, studying Yu Shurong carefully, and asked in a low voice, "It was Commander Dou who abducted you back then?"

"He was the mastermind behind it all. He reached out to Father several times, trying to persuade him to serve the man who is now the Emperor, who was at the time still Crown Prince—just as he himself had once served Emperor Xuanzong when Xuanzong was still Crown Prince. But Father was resolute in refusing to walk that same road again—his heart had long since died to the imperial court. Even Emperor Xuanzong, a man of such formidable talent and vision, who had brought about the flourishing eras of Kaiyuan and Tianbao, had failed to preserve his integrity to the very end, doting endlessly on his consort and entrusting power to treacherous sycophants while ignoring the affairs of state entirely, ultimately bringing about war and chaos and untold suffering for the common people—and then abandoning his own subjects to flee Chang'an out of pure self-interest. Father wanted no more part in serving as a blade in the hands of the House of Li. And besides, if Emperor Xuanzong himself had once been able to personally establish Tianyin Pavilion, why should the current Crown Prince have to settle for scraps left behind by another, unable to build something of his own? But after the chaos of the An Lushan and Shi Siming rebellions, the imperial treasury no longer had the resources to establish an entirely new intelligence organization from scratch, and so old villain Dou murdered Father when he refused to cooperate, abducted Little Ye, and sought to install him as a puppet Pavilion Master, hoping ultimately to seize control of Tianyin Pavilion himself, to place it in service of the Crown Prince."

"But even after killing the old Pavilion Master, considering the strict hierarchy of seniority within Tianyin Pavilion, Little Uncle-Master surely had elder martial brothers and sisters ranked above him—however things unfolded, the role of puppet Pavilion Master should never have fallen to Little Uncle-Master in the first place. How does that explanation hold together?" As the head of Tianyin Pavilion himself, Tian Xu, faced with this sudden, unexpected turn of events, felt he had to remain guarded. Though Uncle Xiaoba was now convinced that Yu Shurong truly was Xu Ye, the man had lived twenty years now as Dou Wenchang's adopted son—whether he had come here in genuine loyalty to Tianyin Pavilion, or as Dou Wenchang's agent, sent to probe their defenses, remained entirely uncertain, and he could afford no carelessness whatsoever.

"That's exactly why old villain Dou exploited Third Martial Brother's ambition and folly, letting internal strife within our own ranks eliminate my eldest martial brother first, while he himself played the sparrow waiting behind the mantis, planning to seize the opportunity later to wipe out Jiang Ri's entire faction in one swift, unexpected stroke. Unfortunately, things unfolded far beyond anything he could have anticipated—that day, five years ago, Tianyin Pavilion's people died or fled, vanishing without a trace right under his very nose, and there's been no word of them since... But the moment I laid eyes on you, everything suddenly became clear to me, all of it. The old man's calculations failed him, because he never knew my eldest martial brother had such an outstanding son—one who struck without warning, leading Tianyin Pavilion's remaining forces to wipe out Third Martial Brother and Fourth Martial Sister's men down to the very last soul, and carried my eldest martial brother away with him..."

As Yu Shurong spoke, the mood in the courtyard grew heavy and somber. That battle five years ago had been a devastating tragedy for Tianyin Pavilion—though Third Uncle-Master and Fourth Uncle-Master's forces had been utterly wiped out, Father and Mother had both perished as well, leaving both sides equally shattered, with no one able to claim victory. Even now, recalling that time, Tian Xu's heart still ached with unbearable grief.

"By then, Third Uncle-Master was already dead, but Fourth Uncle-Master, holding Father hostage, was still putting up desperate resistance. She forced Mother to swallow poison before she would agree to hand Father back, but Mother demanded to 'see it with her own eyes' first—otherwise, empty words meant nothing; she was no naive child to be so easily fooled. Fourth Uncle-Master sneered coldly and said: 'I don't care who becomes Pavilion Master of Tianyin Pavilion, and I don't care who Tianyin Pavilion serves. From beginning to end, the only person I have ever cared about is my eldest martial brother. Since childhood, whatever my eldest martial brother said, He Yan did—being his fellow disciple under the same master was the happiest thing in my life. We trained together, lived together, grew up together. My eldest martial brother was such a wonderful person: devoted and diligent in serving our master, caring and protective toward his fellow disciples, compassionate enough to save the sick and the poor... In He Yan's eyes, in He Yan's heart, there was room for nothing and no one but my eldest martial brother, and yet I cannot understand why he chose you instead. For thirteen, fourteen years, even under the agonizing torment of the love-gu, he never once changed his mind...'"